This was originally shared in my free monthly newsletter in September & I felt it important to share here, too. You can sign up to get the next issue of the newsletter. 

This month I’m going a bit dark with My One Thing. Sure it’s morbid, but have you thought about your digital footprint and what will happen to you when you die? I have. Should I keep my recipes online indefinitely? 🙂 Perhaps one of the toughest decisions your loved ones will face in the future isn’t coffin or cremation but what to do with your Facebook, Google, Twitter & other online profiles. 

Facebook memorializes or removes accounts for deceased users upon request, as does Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. But what about deciding before? If you have a Google account, you can modify your Inactive Account settings now, and even the US Government thinks you should have a Social Media will.

Updated February 2015: Facebook now lets you designate a “legacy contact” for your profile.

The Digital Beyond keeps a list of online services trying to answer this call. Legacy Locker & SecureSafe are standouts as two companies looking to provide this solution for storing your content & also making sure loved ones can get access to your accounts.

LivesOn is not as concerned with preserving your digital content but actually creating new content for you post-mortem. Tweeting to loved ones? Creepy or fantastic?

If you’ve created a will, or even a digital will, you should also take a few moments to chat with your loved one(s) about what you’d like done with your websites & social media presences if something were to happen.

image by juditk